


From the dead I hide

by totally_not_eating_Doritos



Series: Death would be so simple [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Major Character Death Sort Of, Multi, Multiple Universes, One-Sided Attraction, Sort Of, between merlin and mordred, future murther, i ship them so hard but i'm awful to them, i should probably sleep but..., i think, i'm writing this instead of celebrating christmas, it will make sense, murder of lookalikes, past murther, serial killer au, set in the future but the past as well, this is kinda fucked up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-20 00:05:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totally_not_eating_Doritos/pseuds/totally_not_eating_Doritos
Summary: Arthur was running down the empty cobble path through puddles of water and puddles of blood. The air was smothered by sounds of cars and the howl of winds.Did Arthur really die beside the lake or was he simply sent to another version of this world with a memory formed by the revelation of Merlin's magic a man he had given his soul too?Would Merlin simply accept this or would he use his power to break Arthur free from a self-made hell to bring him home?





	1. When the lines blurred

**Author's Note:**

> Hi as I said this is dark so please don't read if you're affected by graphic descriptions of murder or death or blood. I'm aiming for a happy ending but we'll have to see where the story takes us my dears.  
> Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

Prolog   
Arthur was running down the empty cobble path through puddles of water and puddles of blood. The air was smothered by sounds of cars and the howl of winds. Each footstep echoed through the endless night, the splashes of blood and water sent chills and a ghost of pleasure through Arthur's cold and damaged soul. There was only one thought running charging through his mind. Tearing him apart; finish the task, finish the man.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~Chapter one~

 

Arthur's quest began on a dull, cold, Monday morning in fall. He was walking towards his work when he turned left to go down a narrow alleyway when he bumped into a brute, monstrous man wearing a police uniform. Arthur cautiously stepped back and swallowed down the dread that had been pilling up since the officer had appeared. Arthur never liked cops they always got in the way running everything. The officer chuckled softly asking "you alright there lad?"  
Arthur nodded dumbly, appearing as some dumb kid "y..yeah w...whats going on here?"  
The officer turned to look behind himself and into the alleyway before facing Arthur again "Well lad, there has been a murder, a young lad about your age. By the looks of it, he's been slashed ear to ear"  
Arthur stepped to the left and peaked around the officer's large body to see the young man mentioned. The kid had black hair and what could tell with the body's lifeless eyes staring at his green/blue eyes too. The body itself had been thrown away like yesterdays trash, clearly, the killer had not cared about where or who the body was found.   
Arthur looked back at the officer with a faked shocked and disgusted expression. Trying his best to let the fake emotions resonate in his eyes, quickly as possible he excused himself from the scene, simply stating he was going to be sick. The officer chuckled at Arthur's lack of a hard stomach and watched as Arthur left the scene.  
Arthur left the same way he came thinking it was better to work from home rather than the office.   
Once Arthur was halfway home he stopped and stepped into an empty alleyway to let out a what could be perceived as a sinister laugh and smile. He could not hold it in any longer, one of his pieces had been discovered and no one but him knew the meaning or target audience. The kid laying in the gutter had been one of Arthur's best because the boy begged for life his life saying he would give him anything for his life to be speared. Arthur had let out a howl, scaring the boy further but he couldn't hold it in the boy was going die either way it didn't matter to Arthur the boy was already a corpse to him.


	2. Vows and Ripped jeans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Figure who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi once again thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this and I'd like to mention that the chapter lengths will vary so bare with me.

Arthur was drawn out of his happy memories by a familiar voice calling his name. The calm and loving voice sent a sharp, short shock through his cold dead heart leading Arthur to stutter "N..no no you can't be here. Why are you here? You left me"  
The figure gave a soft smile and replied "I am here Arthur and you left me. I've been waiting yet you've never come back. Do you go round killing lookalikes why Arthur? Why?"  
Arthur let out a pitiful laugh "I leave you? No dear you have it wrong!" With the last note hanging in the air, Arthur scrambled towards the figure with his hands out to kill the boy like the others but when he was close enough to touch, the figure vanished like morning mist.  
Arthur fell to the ground cursing as his jeans ripped. Arthur looked up at the darkening sky as rain began to move and pour throughout London and yelled into the wind "I will find you and I will kill you!"  
Arthur stood up and began to walk home normally not to raise suspicion trapped in deep thought down the empty cobble path through the winding streets and back alleys of London. The idea of revenge fresh in his mind and was overcome with a spark of the excitement of the prospect of tearing his target apart with his hands, teeth just anything to make him feel the pain he caused.   
That sorry excuse for a man had made him think he was worthless and worse than the scum rotting in hell. Arthur had walked for what seemed like hours in the rain all the while thinking of how to draw his once precious jewel from the woodwork.


	3. Home was meant to be safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are you ever truly home if you're terrified?

Arthur reached his flat defeated and cold, he had failed to draw out the man after the encounter earlier, not even a glimpse of the man. However, Arthur was not a quieter he knew he had to be patient for his plan to work.  
To clear his head he decided to take a nice relaxing shower but he carefully avoided the mirror in fear of seeing someone he didn't recognise stare back at him. The shower wasn't more than ten minutes including getting changed into PJs. Settling down to do some work seemed like the obvious next step to Arthur as he filled his mug up with strong black coffee.  
He moved to his coffee table and began looking over his files with soft music playing to simply play as white noise and to drown out any thoughts not work-related.  
Arthur was absorbed in his work that he didn't hear the music switch off until the weight on the sofa shifted "you work too hard, you always have love"  
Arthur stiffened and glanced the once familiar figure eyes hardened with distrust and hate "you don't get to call me that!"  
The figure looked down at his hands before standing "Why? it's true, you are the love of my life its only fair I get to call you that."  
Arthur swallowed down the bile that had risen as the stranger spoke "Why would I want your twisted sense of love Merlin? I just love it when the person I gave my soul to shoves it in my face."  
Merlin stepped cautiously towards Arthur "I would never, this isn't you. The Arthur I know wouldn't kill or hell hurt a fly unless it was to protect someone. Please, Arthur, come back to me"  
Arthur couldn't help the rage that filled, how dare Merlin presumes to know him anymore not after everything that had happened. He launched himself at Merlin determined to end this as painfully as possible. Make him suffer as he did.  
But like in the alleyway Merlin once again escaped his grasp leaving Arthur on his knees. He screamed in anguish both to himself and at Merlin. Arthur silently swore to himself he wouldn't let Merlin have that level of emotional control over him anymore. That Merlin wouldn't turn him mad, he must remain rational if he were to complete his goal and do it quickly.


	4. One true horror is an open mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An open mind is the creator's heaven but an active one leads to trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry for the late update I had a few bad days and writer's block but it is here now though it's only a short chapter as I have something big planned for the next so enjoy.   
> don't forget to read the tags carefully I don't want to trigger someone or make them upset.

Arthur stood and brushed himself off and checked to see if Merlin was still around, the fact that Merlin was even there confused him, he had moved apartments after the whole incident not wanting the reminders of the past. Though that in its self always left Arthur unnerved that his past would never seem real like he just woke up living this life, having these memories but nothing was real, nothing kept him tethered to this earth.   
In the months he felt like this was occupied by dreams, nightmares really as his mind would show him falling in love with Merlin all over again but using his love for medieval stories to further entice him to slip further in this falsehood.   
At the beginning it was so bad, Arthur missed Merlin more than anything and cherished the dreams as it was the only way he felt something real, the love he felt could keep him from falling down into the dark abyss that was always there. However, as time went on and the feeling of love became a taunt of what was no longer his and what was used to control him. Arthur was never sure of what truly sent him over the edge nor why he killed in such a manner but he knew the result of his acts. While he did take pleasure in the actual act it was more of the afterthought as simply having to complete the act was tiring and caused deep exhaustion. Deep exhaustion meant no dreams and no dreams meant no torture of watching a version of himself live with a version of Merlin that made him happy.   
Those dreams were as deadly as he was, false hope is a torture that no should go through. Apart of himself hated the fact that he sometimes longed for those dreams just to see any glance at the man he loved but he knew he couldn't give in otherwise he wouldn't wake up, otherwise, Merlin would win and that couldn't happen.


End file.
